Till Death Do Us Apart
by Wildchu
Summary: Times are changing. With each growing year, it seemed that the world that we knew was growing more and more dark and violent than ever before. The world was far from saving. Every angel knew that, but none of them would admit it. Even Mei knew, and she had lost all hope. That is, until one day she met a mortal who seemed to be her last beacon of faith in this city.
1. Falling

The world was _far _from being able to be saved. Every angel knew that. The morbid things the humans did to each other were unthinkable. Blood would be spilled over little earthly things such as money or even for fame. Mei turned her back on the world long ago. It still did not stop the brown haired Taiwanese from glancing down onto the streets of an urban city.

She crouched down low near the skies, her white wings wrapping around her shoulders. Her dark eyes skimmed through the aerial view of the city, ignoring the loose stand of hair that stuck out from the side of her hair. Mei sighed sadly as she witnessed an old man getting beaten to a pulp by a younger, tanned skin boy at the corner of an alley. It was a dreadful though that she was once among the living; roaming and interacting with other beings. That was long ago, back in the time of emperors, she reminded herself.

"Reminiscing again?" said a low, gruff voice. The girl looked back, glancing at whoever was behind her. Not to her surprise, a tall, bulky man towered over her. His short blonde hair was slicked back neatly, and he matched her probing stare with thoughtful blue eyes. "It is a shame to see zhem like zhat. Nien, zhe world vill continue to be as it is no matter vhat ve do."

Mei nodded, turning her attention back. "If it continues to be as corrupt as it is, why must we help it?" she shook her head slowly, her shoulders hunched as she hugged her elbows.

"Zhere are still some good. Jou know zhat Mei," the blonde said, his words thick with a German accent. The brunette stood up and turned to face him. Compared to the man, she was a like a toy to some giant baby. Her head reached only to the German's should, forcing her to crane her neck to look up.

"I know Ludwig, but it is very slim. Is there something you wanted to share with me?" Mei said in a questioning tone. It was common to see the blonde, but only when he had some sort of assignment to give. It was mind boggling to think about all the responsibilities Ludwig has to do, being an archangel and all. The man nodded as he got out his clipboard with the list of angels, skimming through until he found Mei's name.

The Taiwanese girl waited patiently, letting her wings relax against her back. She glanced carelessly around, her focus somewhere other than at Ludwig. She managed to spot Feliciano in the background, running away from Arthur, who seemed to be yelling something.

"Ah. Here it is," he began and gazed up from his clipboard with a sympathetic look. "Uh.. Mei. Jou must go to zhe Earth," he spoke softly, almost scared at what the other angel would do. It was irreverent, however, for the girl to do anything to her superior. Mei stood speechless as she tried to rack her mind around this news. Back. . .to Earth? That god-forsaken world? Ludwig was not finished though.

The blonde German coughed, noting the brown-haired girl tense. "One of zhe demons vas spotted close to zhe humans; former archangel, gone rogue," he said slowly, eyeing the girl's every move.

"F-former archangel?" she said with disbelief. "Former _archangel?_ Why must I, a low ranked angel, go? Why aren't you, a high ranked, prestigious angel, going after them!?" she squeaked, glaring at Ludwig accusingly. Surely someone in higher position would handle that. She huffed out her chest, though she knew it was futile. Ludwig simply sighed and shook his head disapprovingly.

"All of zhe other angels are busy. I, myself, must vith another task. Only jou can do it. Not because jou're zhe only only one, but because I trust jou the most," the blonde replied. Mei nodded hesitantly, yet she could not stop from feeling a burst of joy. She was trusted and that joyed her the most. "Jou must go und ward him off, or else he vill wreak havoc on zhem."

"Alright," she said softly and went off to prepare. A chill passed through her spine as she imagined what it would be like returning to the overworld.

Mei quickly unfurled her wings as she stood near the borders of heaven and Earth, watching dreadfully as her brown eyes skimmed though the scenery. The blue sky was endless for as far as she could see. She could manage to see the tops of the trees if she inched closer to the border. Her heart sped up as she approached closer, feeling her stomach knot up. In just moments, she would be among the humans again. She was supposed to stay hidden, meaning she had to hide her wings. She would be a 'human' for as long as needed for her to accomplish her mission. It still unnerved her that she was going to _walk _and _interact _among them.

'_Go already. Time is of the essence,'_ she told herself, and with a heave, she started to fall. The wind whipped through her feathers as she sliced through the air. Her dark hazel hair fluttered about behind her head, and slowly she pushed her wings down and felt the cool breeze on her flawless face.

Mei grinned despite her nervousness and glanced down, her breath taken away at the foliage down below. Meters and meters in front of her were overgrown trees, hiding the earthly ground under a blanket of leaves. Since when did the Earth have such a plentiful atmosphere? The Taiwanese frowned again as she gazed forward, her wings pushing down on the air with powerful strokes. Up ahead, a couple tall structures peeked out over the horizon, halting the forest to a stop. The city was inching closes into her view, and she was hesitant to leave this untouched land. Lost in her thoughts, the girl had yet to notice the dark aura above her.

"Oh? A little stray angel, aru?" snickered a masculine voice. She took a sharp breath and stared up at the voice. Her eyes widen as she registered a lean, young man flying above her. His wings were a jet black color with slashes decorating them. He wore a crooked smile as he glared down at her with menace. A pang of recognition passed through Mei as she noted the man's long, dark hair pulled back neatly into a ponytail.

"Y-Yao…" she uttered with pure horror as she gazed at him, her face shadowed from the sun. He grinned maliciously, revealing the hidden fangs from under his lips. His eyes glinted as he peered down at Mei, the horns on his head curved in at a peculiar angle.

"So you do remember me? That's so nice of you to, aru!" Yao said with pleasure as his sharp tipped tail lashed casually by behind him. With one swift move, the man brought his fist down near Mei's face. Instinctively, the small girl descended down low enough to avoid the punch and counterattacked him with her own fist. The Chinese man laughed as his tail halted her punch, wrapping tightly around her wrist. Mei let out a surprised yelp and tried to pry her hand away.

"Too slow, aru," he smirked with those pearly white teeth of his. "I thought I taught you better, no?" he shook his head in mock disapproval. Exerting little effort, with a flick of his tail he sent Mei flying back towards the Earth with incredible force. She let out a surprised scream, and before she could react, Yao was on her again.

"Won't need these any time soon," he laughed as he dug his poised nails into her wings. A sharp pain shot through Mei as blood was drawn, staining her white wings with ugly sanguine liquid. It took her moments to register that Yao had sliced through the delicate layer of her wings, and she was free falling straight to the ground. She was losing altitude at a tremendous rate. She was pretty sure she was screaming, but her ears had ceased working and was focused on the whipping winds. Her vision blurred as she felt herself slowly falling unconscious. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was the glint of victory in the man's dark eyes, mocking her through her pain.

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><p><strong>Hello reader! Wildchu here with a new story! Anyways this is only the first chapter, but I plan to have several more after this. =^_^= So I hope you guys enjoy! <strong>


	2. An Unlikely Aquaintance

**Whoa. It seems this chapter is a bit longer than expected XD Anyways, second chapter of the story! I hope you guys enjoy it, and I would love to hear how you guys like it so far! ^-^"**

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><p>"Hey, are you, like, ok?<p>

Mei felt an ache in her head, slowly coming conscious. She let out a soft moan as her head tilted to the side.

"Hey! Are you alright?" the voice repeated. Her eyes fluttered open, blinded by the sunlight. Her eyes took their time to adjust and she glanced up at the owner of the voice.

A young face stared down at her, his face slightly covered with his choppy dark brown hair. His hair came down to his jaws at was combed over to one side. He was crouched down near her and looked at her expectantly through his light hazel eyes.

"Can you, like, hear me?" he asked, raising his slightly thick eyebrows at her. Mei blinked a few times and nodded.

"U-uh…yeah… I can hear just fine.." Mei slowly sat up, feeling a wave of dizziness in her head. She flinched as he precariously placed his hand on her forehead. His hands were cold, making the Taiwanese shiver. "W-what are you doing?" she stuttered.

"Checking to see if you're truly ok. Never know when you're sick," he said in a monotone. "You know?"

"Uhm…ok," she said bluntly, staring at the stranger with a dumbfounded expression. "Who exactly are you….?" He gave her a small smirk and plopped down on the ground next to her.

"I was just about to ask the same thing to you! I'm Kaoru," he stated, his expression reverting back to a stoic expression. "What's your name, hm?" he stared at her, making Mei uncomfortable. She quickly glanced around, startled at the fact there was no bloodstains anywhere to be found on the ground. Panicking, she looked down at herself and found herself dressed in a long, flowing pink quipao, outlined with white fabric. She felt no weight on her back and found it to be bare of the white wings of hers.

"Uh, you alright there?" Kaoru asked, staring at her with a puzzled look. "You didn't lose your memory did you? Like, in those Korean drama, right? Do you know your own name?" he leaned in closer to her, making the girl squirm.

"W-what? N-no! I know who I am!" she squeaked, pushing her back a little bit to lengthen the distance between them. The young man only leaned in closer, one of his eyebrows raised.

"Oh? Then what is it?" he said, facing his ear closer to her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. She struggled with her words as she tried to remember herself. Her head started to throb violently and flinched away in pain. Then it all started to come back to her. "My name is Mei. Where did you come from?"

"Me? I came from the city!" he said in an obvious tone. "I mean, where else?" he shook his head, somewhat perturbed by the girl's ignorance. "Where did _you _come from? I haven't seen you around here at all."

"I- uh. I'm," she paused, thinking of what to say. Kaoru didn't seem like he was one of the evil entities, so he must be one of the humans, right? Mei swallowed, trying to find her excuse and make up her story now that she was among them. "I-I uh, got lost in the woods when I was trying to find a shortcut..to the city? I, uh, just moved here?" she stated with a questioning tone, unsure if that was convincing enough.

The brown-haired man raised his eyebrow, but did not press on. "I see. Well, luckily I found you before the wolves did," he said, making Mei confused whether that was a joke or not. He gave her a small smile and stood up, holding out his hand for her. "Here, I'll escort you back to the city. Don't want you getting lost again," he said with a grin. The Taiwanese nodded numbly and took his hand, using his aid to stand up.

"Um, thank you," she spoke softly and glanced around. She took a closer look at Kaoru, noting his long, burgundy colored outfit and oversized sleeves. He also wore some dark brown pair of trousers that stopped to where his shoes were. Mei glanced up and noticed he was staring at her again.

"W-what?" she said, getting a little annoyed at him. He shrugged and turned around to head to the city. Mei felt agitated as his lack of expression and hesitantly followed after him. '_Are all humans like this?'_ she thought exasperatedly, and stared after in his direction. This was going to be agonizing for her…

Kaoru kept going, not even glancing back to see if Mei was following. She caught up behind him and was walking along his side. The young man didn't even glance over at her, as if he had forgotten there was someone following him. "Hmph," was all she said and crossed her arms, matching his pace. He finally looked over at her with a puzzled look, his brown eyes reflecting in the sun.

"What?" he said, which made Mei even madder. "Did I do something wrong?" his voice was void of any emotions. The Taiwanese girl simply shook her head and spoke no words. With a shrug, Kaoru continued to lead the way until he stopped at the border of the forest and the city. The girl was falling behind and tried to run to catch up to him, not seeing his stop. Vehicles whirred past as she neared closer, realizing that she couldn't slow down. The man held out his arm and halted Mei to an abrupt stop. She was bounced back and fell down to the ground with a _plop. _"Careful. There are cars, you know," he said with a glare at her.

"O-oh. Uh, I knew that," she said with a soft laugh, hoping it didn't make her seem like an idiot. Despite her embarrassment, she still gazed in wonder at the automobiles. So this is what it was like to look at it from close up. Her mouth was open a bit as she continued to stare at the passing cars in awe.

The brown haired man stared at the girl with a peculiar glance. "What? Never seen a car before?" he asked. Mei closed her mouth and shook her head. She was about to say something when Kaoru waved his hand to silence her. "No need to explain. Do you remember where you lived?"

Mei bit her lips, trying to think of what to do now. She would have to lie again, but she didn't know her way around the city at all. What was she going to do? Kaoru saw her hesitance and crouched down beside her, poking her in the cheek. "You're really not from around here, are you?" he asked her, giving her an accusing glare. The Taiwanese let out her breath and shook her head, feeling ashamed.

"No… I really don't…" she hid her face behind her hands and shook her head. He patted her on the back and motioned her to stand up. Reluctantly, Mei did just that and stood up. Kaoru held out his hand for her, resulting in a puzzled glance from the brown-haired girl. He flicked his head to get his hair out from his view.

"Well? Are you going to let me lead across the street or not?" he stated plainly, still waiting for her. The girl gave him a baffled look, but he still held out his hand. "I'm not going to let a girl like you get hit by a car. Especially when she doesn't pay attention," he said with a teasing grin. Mei's face flushed instantly, shaking her head feverishly.

"I can handle myself!" she argued, glaring darts at him now. Kaoru chuckled and raised his hand, reminding her that he was waiting. Mei puffed out her cheeks, but took his hand, taken aback by how soft it was. His smile grew wider, but the smirk did not disappear from his face as he led her across the street. A car whizzed past behind them when they were nearly close to the other side, making the Taiwanese girl walker closer behind him. He let out a little chuckle and stepped onto the other side.

"Careful, now. There's a ledge up from here the street onto the sidewalk," he said as he let go of her hand. He was punched in the arm by the girl, who was now mad at his little teasing. "Relax! I was only kidding!" he rubbed his arm, and glanced up at Mei. All she did in response was mutter 'idiot' before walking past him and into the dispersing crowd of people. "Hey wait up!" he yelled, running after her, occasionally apologizing to the people he bumped into.

The brown-haired girl continued to walk, ignoring his shouts from behind. '_Humans are so rude. Hmph.' _She felt a tug behind her as Kaoru grabbed her arm.

"Wait up! I was only kidding!" he said loudly, emphasizing it. She yanked her arm away from him, trying to continue walking. He kept holding her back though, no matter how hard she tried to get away. "Listen! It was only a joke, ok? I apologize if I was being mean to you," he said sincerely. She finally turns around to face him, her cheeks puffed out.

"Hey, listen to me, ok? It's near lunch time, so why don't both go and get something to eat? I'll pay for it also," he said with a smile.

"Lunch?" she inquired. "And why should I go with you? I'm… not really that hungry-," the Taiwanese started before she heard a loud growl coming from below. She glanced sheepishly down at her stomach, a bit agitated that it would choose now of all times to make an appearance. Yet despite her protests, she was fairly famished.

"See? You are!" Kaoru retorted with a soft laugh. "Come on. My treat," he held out his hands for her. Mei sighed and hesitantly took up his offer and placed her own hands in his.


End file.
